Plow apparatus for high speed snow removal without windrowing



Jan. 22, 1957 J. R. SHANNON 2,773,126

PLOW APPARATUS FOR HIGH SPEED SNOW REMOVAL WITHOUT WINDROWING 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed 'June 8, 1953 IN V EN TOR. JEQA/ 1?. SHflN/VOM Cases/95 0.

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Jan. 22, 1957 J. R. SHANNON 2,778,126 PLOW APPARATUS F OR HIGH SPEED SNQW REMOVAL WITHOUT WINDROWING Filed June 8, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jan. 22, 1957 J. R. SHANNON 2,778,126 PLOW APPARATUS FOR HIGH SPEED SNOW REMOVAL WITHOUT WINDROWING Filed June 8, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.

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PLOW APPARATUS FOR HIGH SPEED SNOW REMOVAL WITHOUT WINDROWING Jean R. Shannon, deceased, late of Clintonville,

Gladys L. Shannon, executrix, Clintonville, Wis, assignor to The Four Wheel Drive Auto Company, Clintonvill'e, Wis, a corporation of Wisconsin Application June 8, 1953, Serial No. 359,996 6 Claims. (Cl. 37-42) Wis., by

This invention relates to methods and apparatus for high speed snow removal without windrowing.

This application is a continuation-in-part of the copending application Serial No. 35,233, filed June 25, 1948, and entitled Methods and Apparatus for High Speed Snow Removal Without Windrowing, now Patent No. 2,651,121, issued September 8, 1953.

All conventional snowplows or placed snow in a windrow but, on the it over a wide area, leaving no perceptible windrow or ridge of dangerous height. The improved method and apparatus are particularly designed for clearing airports where a windrow would be a definite hazard.

contrary, disperses to the point of delivery, such acceleration being due to I the form of the mouldboard.

. An important object of the present invention is to improve upon the mouldboard described in said prior application aforesaid by so shaping the top outer end corners of the mouldboard as to encourage the centrifugal inertia of the helically traveling snow particles to lift In this conbroadcasting path Of Vehicle travel.

2,778,126 Patented Jan. 22, 1957 2 Moreover, the uplifted corner of the mouldboard and added deflector lengthens the path of travel and control of the snow particles over the mouldboard surface. This mouldboard and onto the vehicle windshield.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a diagrammatic view in front perspective showing the plow of the extent to which the snow is broadcast from the plow under operating conditions.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the mouldboard and its articulate connections to the vehicle, the vehicle being shown only fragmentarily.

Fig. 3 is a rear view of an end fragment of a mouldboard and mounting embodying the present invention, the structure of a castered blade support being shown in section.

Fig. 4 is an end of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a horizontal cross section taken through the caster mounting of Fig. 2 along the line 55.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary diagrammatic rear elevation of the mouldboard blade showing a slit formed in its top edge prior to forming a top corner thereof.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary diagrammatic rear view of the mouldboard blade after the top corner beyond the slit has been bent rearwardly and upwardly to expand the slit to wedge shape, a wedge-shaped insert being shown in spaced relation.

Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 6, but in more detail to show the structure of the blade mounting and reinforcing means, and the construction of the blade corner after the wedge-shaped insert is in place.

The mouldboard 10 is substantially of the same configuration as that described in the co-pending application aforesaid. The curve of the mouldboard in vertical section is a spiral or volute curve of progressively decreasing radius from its bottom to its top. The bottom forward edge of the mouldboard is provided with a scraping plate ill and the top margin of the mouldb'oard desirably terminates in an upwardly and rearwardly directed flange 12 substantially at a right angle to the blade margin. This flange provides a mount for a deflector plate 13,. as hereinafter explained.

in the present construction the top corners view of the mouldboard and mounting to a wedge shape. After bending, an insert 16 is welded to fill the cut as indicated in Fig. 8, to rigidity the altered structure of the mouldboard cori'it-irs. The "flange 12 is then secured to the specting flange i2.

Particularly where the plow is used in light, flulfy increase the effective guidance of the mouldboard and to which it may be rigidly attached by means of the nuts and bolts 22. The ends of the deflector plate 20 comprise substantially triangular plates 23 welded at 25 to the end margin of plate 2% and having mounting flanges 24 connected by means of bolts 26 to the flanges 19 of the'mouldboard corners 14. These triangular end pieces 23 have their trailing margins upwardly and rearwardly inclined, complementary with the forward margins of corners 14 of the mouldboard. Where the plow is operating in heavier snow the deflector 13 is not necessary and may be removed by loosening the bolts 22, 26.

In the co-pending application aforesaid, there are disclosed elongated ski runners having a castered connection to support the blade near its ends. These ski runners were supported on spaced vertical bearing brackets 28, 29, 36 and 37. Under some conditions caster wheels are desired. For that purpose there may be provided the caster wheel structure shown in Figs. 35 in this application and in which the caster wheels 30 and their mountings are interchangeable with the runners shown in said co-pending application and in Fig.2 herein. Each caster wheel 30 is provided with the usual yoke 31 spanned by the wheel axle 32. Ofiset on its vertical axis from axle 32 is the swiveling tube 33 telescopically receivable in a complementary bearing tube 34 welded or otherwise fixed to the spaced bracket plates 35 which embrace the square blocks 46 and 47 which are normally mounted between the brackets 23, 29 and 36, 37 on the retaining pins 48 and 4? respectively. The plates 35 are fastened to the blocks 46 and 47 by bolts which pass laterally 46, 47, and aligned transverse bores in the pins 4S, 49. Engagement of the inner faces of plates 35 with the side edges of brackets 28, 29, 36 and 37, precludes pivoting of the blocks 46 and 47. Accordingly the caster mounting is rigid respecting the mouldboard, except for swiveling of the tube 33 in bearing tube 34. Each caster and its mount is removable by removing bolts 50.

Mounted within the swiveling tube 33, on the cross disk 38, is a compression spring 39 having a collar 40 fast to a pilot rod 41 about which the spring is coiled. The position of the collar 40 is adjustable by moving the backing nut 42 on threads 43. These threads also engage complementary threads in cap 51 mounted on hearing tube 34. Rod 41 extends through an aperture in the cross disk 38 so that the weight of the mouldboard is imposed on the cross disk 38 through the spring 39. The spring cushions road shock. The overall height of the mouldboard respecting the caster can be adjusted by turning the pilot rod 4i. by means of its squared head 44 and adjusting the lock nut 45. This, of course, advances or retracts the pilot rod threads 43 respecting complementary threads in the cap 51 on tube as.

The caster wheels 38 accommodate for pivotal movement of the mouldboard about the vertical axis pivots 52 on which the mouldboard is mounted on the vehicle for oscillation in a horizontal plane. Thus the caster is always aligned in a direction of vehicle travel regardless of the angular position of the mouldboard respecting the path of vehicle travel. This is important in a high speed snowplow in order that the inclination of the blade be changed at the end of each pass of the plow. Regardless of the inclination, the wheels always align in the direction of vehicle travel.

As explained in the co-pending application, aforesaid, and as best shown in Figs. 2 and 4of the instant application, the mouldboard blade is mounted for articulation in both horizontal and vertical planes. The rear convex face of the mouldboard is provided with a reinforcing and mounting bracket 55 which includes bracing angle members 56 and a cross connecting member 64. The bracket 55 has a substantially planiform rear face 57 in thrust engagement with a thrust member 58 which has a substantially planiform front face 59 complementary to the rear face 57 of the mounting bracket mately erated all the way 55. The bracket 55 is pivotally connected to the thrust member near its bottom on a horizontal pivot 60 on which the mouldboard may oscillate in a vertical plane. As more fully described in the co-pending application aforesaid, the bracket 55 and thrust member 58 are provided with wear pads indicated generally at 61 in Fig. '2 and which guide the bracket in its oscillatory movement on the pivot 60.

The thrust member 58 is oscillatable in a horizontal plane on the vertically spaced axially aligned pivots 52 mounted on upper and lower yokes 62 and 63. These yokes are in turn supported on a vertically movable sub-frame comprising upper and lower links 66 and 67 pivotally connected by means of the forward and rear sets of pins 68 and 69 to the yokes and to the rigid vehicle frame members 70 respectively. The structure of the sub-frame is no part of the present invention and will not be further explained here.

As before indicated the weight of the mouldboard is carried by castered supports which may be either the caster wheels 30 shown in Figs. 3 and 4 or the caster shoes or runners 71 shown in Fig. 2. These caster supports align in the direction of vehicle travel and will raise and lower the mouldboard to accommodate for ground irregularities. The parallelogram links 66 permit bodily movement of the mouldboard respecting the vehicle in a vertical plane and the pivot 60 permits oscillation of the mouldboard in a vertical plane. The angular position of the mouldboard respecting the path of travel of the vehicle is set by the hydraulic motor indicated generally as 72. The motor has a piston 75 and a pivotal connection at 76 to a bracket 77 on the thrust member 58. As indicated in the application aforesaid, means are also provided for lifting the entire mouldboard and its :castered supports from the ground for transportation from point to point. This means includes the hydraulic motor 78 which acts upwardly on the chain links 79 and 80. These elements are no part of the present invention, however, and will not be further described.

The mouldboard is ordinarily kept in either of its extreme positions of angular adjustment during use. In practice, it has been found desirable for the particular mouldboard shown to be set at an angle of approxifrom the longitudinal center line of the vehicle. At this approximate angle, the height of the mouldboard from its cutting blade 11 to the upper edge thereof, and the curvature of the mouldboard as shown, cause a particle of snow picked up at any point along the cutting blade 11 to travel in a helical path up and across the curved face of the mouldboard to, or near to, the discharge end. In traversing this path, the particle of snow so picked up will follow a curve of uniformly decreasing radius and will therefore be uniformly accelto the discharge point. When the snow particles reach the uplifted corners 14 the force of their centrifugal inertia is at least partially released and the snow particles project themselves along the outwardly and upwardly inclined corners of the blade to a greater height than would otherwise be possible to receive the down wind draft aforesaid. From this greater height the snow is carried farther by the wind than heretofore. The high velocity discharges widely distributes all particles of snow and, as above noted, the plow is ordinarily used cross wind and arranged to discharge down wind so that the wind assists in distributing the particles of snow as widely as possible, virtually none of them falling in the immediate vicinity of the path of the plow.

As distinguished from normal plowing operations which simply displace the snow sufficiently to clear a traveled roadway, and which ordinarily proceed at a speed such that the snow is merely displacedsutliciently for clearance, the present invention is conducted at as high a speed as is possible with the apparatus used, and with due consideration for the weight of the snow to be dis placed. Desirably the plow should develop suflicient speed so that the snow, instead of merely being pushed laterally, is actually lifted from the road and pro ected at such high velocity that the passage of the plow leaves no perceptible windrow whatever.

The velocity of projection is such that substantially all of the snow encountered in each traverse will be hurled not only free of the runway, but distributed over a Wide area therebeyond, thus avoiding formation of a windrow.

In ordinary plowing operations With on the down Wind side. In successive traverses, therefore, the snow will be distributed at progressively greater distances from the runway.

There is claimed:

1. A snowplow comprising the combination with a propelling vehicle adapted the blade.

2. The device of claim a detachable deflector, the

ing an inclined end portion clined corner portion of the blade and connected to the said inclined strip section.

3. A snow plow mouldboard comprising a forwardly directed concave surface over which the material encoun- 5. The mouldboard of claim 3 in corner with the blade comprises a wedgetions of the blade.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 21,997 Stanitz Jan. 6, 1942 505,950 McKay Oct. 3, 1893 1,592,304 Keyes July 13, 1926 1,638,708 Saxon Aug. 9, 1927 1,754,322 Johnson Apr. 15, 1930 1,820,707 Moen et al. Aug. 25, 1931 1,853,940 Soule et al Apr. 12, 1932 1,900,703 Frink Mar. 7, 1933 2,057,326 Coates Oct. 13, 1936 2,129,970 Simonds Sept. 13, 1938 2,420,591 Frame et al May 13, 1947 2,651,121 Shannon Sept. 8, 1953 OTHER REFERENCES Catalogue No. 104, Good Roads Machinery Corp., 

